Washington, DC - Consumer confidence rose in August to its highest level since October 2000, building on July’s solid result.

August saw that optimism increase among consumers, the Conference Board found, with the percentage of consumers expecting business conditions will get better over the next six months increasing to 24.3 percent from 22.9 percent.

“These historically high confidence levels should continue to support healthy consumer spending in the near-term,” Franco added.

Since consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity, economists’ pay close attention to the number.

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